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This article examines an official participation process; the public debate organised by the National Committee of Public Debate (CNDP) between March and June 2006. The debate questioned the interest of a project that some inhabitants and authorities were awaiting since 1965 to be realized; the construction of a motorway extension in the outskirts of Paris, France. Our analysis comprehends the examination of this debate referring to an assessment scheme for participatory processes. The assessment scheme distinguishes three types of effects, each one on a different scale of time: 1) Procedural effects concern short term effects of the debate, e.g. access and enrichment of information, conditions of public participation. 2) Substantial effects concern the impact of the debate on the final public decision. They can only be assessed once the decision is taken. 3) Contextual effects consider long term impacts of the debate on society and community, on civil as well as on institutional levels. Our study shows how these three types of effects interfere in our case study.

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Deliberative decision-making approaches are being increasingly favoured for regional development as they assist in overcoming difficulties associated with complexity and uncertainty. This article examines the role of multimedia tools in the decision-making process. An example of the tools we employ is the KerBabel Deliberation Support Tools (KerDST), which is a computer-based tool accessible to all stakeholders. It aims to understand points of convergence and difference and to aid in the choice of future development paths as it represents any problem that involves social choice (e.g. environmental conflicts) through three key dimensions: actors, scenarios, and issues. We discuss two cases in which KerDST has been applied (water management issues in residential development in the UK and urban mobility options in France). Its success as a deliberation tool has allowed us to draw overall lessons about the relevance of such tools in addressing regional sustainable development issues, both in terms of process and design.

O artigo contesta as representações que têm sido apresentadas acerca da sociedade latino-americana da primeira metade do século XIX, mais especificamente aquelas que induzem a pensar que houve uma quase total ausência dos grupos indígenas no processo de construção dos respectivos Estados após a independência. Perseguindo o objetivo a que se propõe, identifica e analisa as políticas adotadas pelos governos da Província de Buenos Aires ao longo da primeira metade do século XIX, no que diz respeito à população nativa e ao território que ela ocupava. Ao mesmo tempo, contempla a reação dos indígenas a essas medidas. Conclui, reiterando a participação desses – através de alianças ou de resistência – no redirecionamento da importância política e econômica da província de Buenos Aires, ocorrido no período protoindependente, principalmente a dos grupos denominados índios amigos e índios aliados.